15 Years ago

15 Years ago = Oct. 1998 – I was finally feeling over the back injury (SI joint) and getting into a groove.  I got in some longer runs and had 415 miles training during the month.  I kicked it off with a “lousy” run at the USATF NE 8km championships in Attleboro.  I noted that I “felt terrible” running 24:52 for 18^th place.  At the time it was one of my worst runs at the GP champs race, but I was only 39 seconds out of first.  A week later I headed to New Castle for the Great Island 5k.  This is a New England classic; everyone should do this race at least once!  New Castle is a great location and it is an interesting course which covers just about every inch of the town.  I ended up in a good fight with Joe Lemay and Eric Morse.  They broke away in the last mile and I ended up taking third.

    1   14:53   4:47 JOE LEMAY              31M DANBURY CT             

    2   14:55   4:48 ERIC MORSE            33M MONTPELIER VT            

    3   14:59   4:50 DAVE DUNHAM         34M BRADFORD MA               

    4   15:11   4:53 FILHO NIVALDO        38M CAMBRIDGE MA          

    5   15:14   4:54 MIKE O'BRIEN           38M DURHAM NH              

    6   15:18   4:56 BYRNE DECKER         31M YARMOUTH ME          

    7   15:27   4:58 DAN VERRINGTON     36M BRADFORD MA         

    8   15:31   5:00 JOHN MENTZER         22M NEWPORT RI              

    9   15:34   5:01 CHRIS TEAGUE          29M NO CHELMSFORD MA    

   10   15:39   5:02 SCOTT CLARK            32 M GILMANTON NH               

 

A week later I was back in Lowell (Tyngsboro actually) for the Baystate marathon.  The flat course and no travel made this the ideal location to take a shot at qualifying for the Olympic trials.  I needed to break 2:22, so my plan was to run as even as possible and see what happened.  We had temps ranging from 55 at the start to mid-70’s at the finish.  Glen Guillemett led through the half in just under 1:11 (he won the half) with teammates Dan Verrington and Byrne Decker tucked in.  I made my move at 15 and only Alex Tilson went with me (Dan bailed).  We were still clicking off miles right at 2:22 pace but I was worried about one bad mile putting the qualifier out of reach.  At 23 I upped the tempo and dropped Tilson as I crossed over the Tyngsboro Bridge.  I didn’t know I had the win or the qualifier until I turned the corned into the high school and with 400 to go knew I’d slip under.  The 2:21:36 is still the “event” record at Baystate although the course has changed.  My fastest and slowest 10k splits only varied by 15 seconds.  10k splits = 33:30/33:44/33:33/33:29

    1 DAVE DUNHAM        M3039 BRADFORD MA                 2:21:36   5:25

    2 ALEX TILSON           M1829 WATERTOWN MA             2:22:45   5:27

    3 ERIC BEAUCHESNE   M1829 N CHELMSFORD MA      2:31:55   5:48

    4 BYRNE DECKER        M3039 YARMOUTH ME               2:33:23   5:51

    5 JOHN MULLIGAN      M3039 METHUEN MA                  2:35:17   5:56